


For A Lifetime

by i_buchanan



Series: In This Together [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce is the most tolerable of Tony's shit, But no wedding night, Fluff, M/M, Rhodey is done with Tony's shit, Tony is also done with Tony's shit, wedding fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 14:59:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17368055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_buchanan/pseuds/i_buchanan
Summary: Tony would never classify himself as particularly patient. And while Bruce brought out a lot of his best qualities, he was pretty sure that an eight year engagement was entirely too long.





	For A Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> This has literally been sitting, mostly complete, in my WIP folder for over a year now, and I don't know why I had such a block with editing it. Actually, considering it's the complete second draft, there was even a block with writing it, for no good reason.
> 
> Regardless, I hope you all enjoy it, and concrit is greatly appreciated

Tony liked to think he was fairly patient with his fiancé. He hadn’t really thought twice before agreeing to wait until Bruce finished with school to officially tie the knot--even if he could argue that the agreement was made under extreme duress. He was pretty sure he hadn’t pushed too horribly hard about getting a house instead of renewing their lease for the umpteenth time.

Ok, maybe he’d pushed a little hard about that one, but they’d lived in the same apartment for three years so he liked to think that was necessary.

Hell, he was even only half-heartedly set on keeping to the ‘six month pre-engagement’ thing when they were still in Massachusetts. And while Bruce had agreed before time was up, Tony wasn’t actually sure he could have brought himself to walk away if it didn’t go according to plan.

Point was, Tony liked to think that he didn’t try to force deadlines on Bruce. Especially since it tended to take  _ forever _ for him to adjust to ideas, even though he adjusted to realities pretty quickly.

All that said, he was pretty sure that he  _ hadn’t  _ signed himself up for an eight year engagement back when he and Bruce were still tiptoeing around the idea of getting married. Hell, when they were tiptoeing around the idea of being in an official  _ relationship _ , even. And he was pretty sure that if he continued to say nothing, Bruce was just going to keep getting degree after degree until he died, because for some reason he was enamored with the whole thing. And a little terrified at the whole ‘get a proper job’ thing, which was probably the bigger motivator if he thought about it.

It was cute, really. Tony liked bragging that his fiancé was working on doctorate number five.

Probably, though, he could have picked a better time to broach this particular subject. Maybe when it wasn’t well past midnight.

“I want to reexamine the terms of our earlier agreement,” Tony said, comfortably sprawled on his back and crossing well into ‘Bruce’s side’.

For what it was worth, Bruce seemed positively nonplussed about it as he crawled back onto their bed. “You’re going to have to be a lot more specific than that, Tones.”

Tony sighed dramatically, stretching out even more. “The one where I won’t push for a wedding until you’re done with school. You know, the one we made almost a decade ago when we were still young and naïve? And I hadn’t been complaining over your endless list of doctorates, but it’d be kind of nice to, you know, actually get married eventually? Before we go grey?”

Bruce snorted, even as he decided to make himself comfortable on top of Tony.

Which, you know, he wasn’t about to complain about.

“We’re not even thirty yet. And I don’t think you have to worry about your looks if you can manage to pull off that goatee. Everything looks good on you.”

“I can’t tell if I’m supposed to be flattered or offended.”

“Be flattered.” Bruce leaned across Tony’s body to kiss his cheek. “Is it actually a big deal to you that we go through with this? Because I’m pretty sure we’ve established by now that you’re stuck with me regardless of if there’s any legal paperwork involved.”

“I want the legal paperwork,” Tony muttered petulantly, wrapping his legs around Bruce’s hips. Not intending to start anything, but attempting to limit the amount of space between them regardless. “I don’t get your aversion to it. I mean, I know you hate change, but it’s not like things will be that different on a day-to-day basis.”

“Which is kind of why I don’t get why you’re so eager to do it. It’s not going to change much of anything.”

“I don’t think you can claim I’m ‘eager’ when I haven’t even brought it up more than in passing for eight years.” Tony hesitated, worrying his lip between his teeth. “I’d like to be more formally tied to you. You know? I mean, what we have is all well and good, but if something happened…”

It wasn’t the main reason, honestly. But Bruce had already had to take him to get the battery in his pacemaker replaced twice since they met, and Tony would admit to being a bit… concerned. Mostly, though, he just wanted the false sense of security that went along with it. As if once they were married, Bruce wouldn’t be able to run from him. 

Even though the closest thing they’d ever had to a breakup had been before they were even officially together. That wasn’t the point.

There was a certain softness in Bruce’s expression, and Tony was pretty sure he just won, even if he felt a little guilty for it. “You know, I’m actually kind of surprised you waited this long to bring it up again. I was pretty sure you would have started pushing for it years ago.”

“And I was pretty sure you were just delaying for the sake of delaying. Seriously, Brucie, there is no reason for you to be working on a doctorate in  _ chemical engineering _ of all things. You already have one in biochem; is there really a need for this?”

“Would you rather I tried medical school again? Because I can definitely go back and finish that up.”

Automatically, Tony pulled a face at the thought. While he appreciated what Bruce learned from medical school, and liked that he enjoyed it… “If you go back to do your residency I might have to strangle you. And not in a fun way.”

He tried to muffle his laughter by tucking himself into the arc beneath Tony’s ribs. Very unsuccessfully. “I think that’s the one that you absolutely hated me doing, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. I don’t think I was away for any longer than I normally was.”

Tony shrugged, immediately carding his hands through Bruce’s ridiculous curls. Which were kept much shorter now than when they were both in college, though they weren’t tamed much better. “You definitely were. I was spoiled and got used to you being close at hand when I wasn’t working. And then for three years you were back doing regular classes on top of everything else.”

Bruce nestled in, careful not to press his full weight onto Tony. “No, I’m pretty sure I was still going to lectures. You were in no way used to me being around on a regular basis at that point in time.”

While the light tug on Bruce’s hair meant to be retaliatory, Tony was pretty sure it just served to amuse the man. “So can we do this or are you going to make me wait until you have a doctorate in every subject that tickles your fancy?”

There was definitely something needlessly indulgent in Bruce’s smile that made Tony huff. He was being practical, for fuck’s sake. Something Bruce often insisted that he should do more often.

“Yeah. All right. We can do this sooner than originally planned.”

Tony hadn’t realized that he had started tensing up until the knot in his chest loosened, grateful that Bruce actually  _ agreed _ with him.

“Ok. So we can start sorting out particulars over the weekend, right? Because I’m pretty sure that this is going to be more intensive than we think it’s going to be.”

Bruce placed a close-mouthed kiss to Tony’s stomach, settling comfortably between his thighs. “I reserve the right to tease you if you get frustrated over it.”

“You were going to do that no matter what. Don’t act like you’re getting it as a concession.”

Bruce’s laughter was the only confirmation he needed, and Tony couldn’t help but smile down at him, even if he was trying to act put-out.

* * *

They quickly decided that a summer wedding was going to be their best bet. It was rare for Bruce to do summer lectures, and Tony could arrange to get off whenever he needed to, providing he told Pepper at least three months in advance.

Tony insisted that he’d rather do it early in the summer, in that case, because he wanted more than a week’s worth of honeymooning.

There was a minor argument over if they should do it right after finals, or if they should hold off until June and deal with everyone else getting married around the same time. Bruce ultimately won that one.

Which then brought on the issue of planning the entire thing in under nine months because Tony was impatient but wouldn’t accept something as simple as a courthouse marriage because he wanted better for Bruce.

He didn’t verbalize that last thought but he got the sense that Bruce knew anyways.

* * *

Bruce had definitely been right when he said the planning was going to be harder than Tony anticipated. But then, it was more tricky than Bruce had anticipated as well, so there wasn’t nearly as much ribbing as Tony had expected.

It was fun, usually. Sorting out guest lists, picking out cakes, venues… Bruce had more or less given Tony free reign over the honeymoon part, which Tony took to with probably more enthusiasm than strictly warranted, but everything else was a fairly collaborative effort.

Granted, the closer they came to the date the more nitpicky they had to get, and that wasn’t even a little bit enjoyable.

“You’re  _ sure _ no one else said they were bringing a plus one,” Tony asked for probably the thirtieth time in the last week alone.

Staring at the guest list looked a lot less daunting about six months ago, and now Tony regretted inviting so many people. Even if ‘so many’ probably didn’t even break a hundred.

The benefits of coming from a small family and marrying into  _ another  _ small family.

“I can check again, but I’m almost positive that’s everyone.”

Tony sighed heavily, leaning over in his chair so he could try and curl himself into Bruce’s side. It wasn’t very effective. Brad was giving him a judgmental look from his perch on their refrigerator and it was more effective than it should be, considering he was a giant mound of orange fluff. “It feels like we’re missing someone and I don’t know who it is.”

Bruce tutted, rubbing the soft skin behind Tony’s ear. “We’ve planned on a little extra space in case that happens. Besides, we’re leaving early so I don’t think it’s going to matter too much if one or two extra people show up.”

It was damn near impossible for Tony  _ not _ to melt under that touch, and Bruce was perfectly well aware of that fact. “You’re cheating,” Tony accused, even as he leaned into it. “Being all rational and such while showering me with affection.”

“You say that like it’s some kind of terrible thing, instead of exactly what you were angling for.” Bruce pressed a little harder at the hinge of Tony’s jaw, his soft, self-satisfied hum audible when Tony’s eyes started to flutter shut. “We’re as sure of this as we can be, Tones. And we’re prepared to be a little bit wrong just in case. You can stop fretting so much about it.”

Tony huffed, shifting in his seat so that it was marginally more comfortable for his back. “How did I turn into the high strung one in this relationship?” he asked, almost a little petulant over it.

“You’re only the high strung one in the face of deadlines, sweetheart.”

Which was the nice answer, at least. Tony was pretty sure they were  _ both _ the high strung one in their relationship, even though they had both relaxed considerably over the years.

More often than not, though, it seemed like Bruce had settled more firmly than Tony had.

Tony sighed, straightening himself up and attempted to rub the tiredness out of his eyes. “Yeah, all right. If you say it’s good, it’s good. What’s left?”

Bruce leaned over to brush a brief kiss against Tony’s mouth before answering. “What’s left is you getting some sleep. There’s still six weeks before this all needs to be sorted out, so we can worry about it tomorrow.”

It was the ‘you’ that caught Tony’s attention, though he supposed he probably shouldn’t be overly surprised by it. “Not going to join me?”

“I’ve got to try and get some work done first,” Bruce explained, eyes dropping contritely. “It won’t be long, but you actually have to be somewhere in the morning so I’d rather you go without me.”

Yeah, that wasn’t surprising. Tony made a show of rolling his eyes in spite of the fact that he didn’t  _ actually _ put up much of a fuss over it. Just because Bruce had a knack for writing theses didn’t mean that he could get away with not trying.

Tony pouted, ducking in to press their lips together before  _ actually _ getting up. The tell-tale ‘thud’ was a pretty clear indicator that their cat was going to follow him to bed. “Don’t stay up too long, all right? The covers are forfeit if you take more than two hours.”

Bruce hummed his agreement, already switching what folders were laid out on the table, and neatly folding up the pages they had been pouring over.

Really, it was fairly obvious which of them was the organizational helm of the household. And as much as Tony liked to tease him over it, he definitely needed that sort of thing in his life.

* * *

The last six weeks of planning was arguably more hectic than the first six  _ months _ . Between last minute fittings, finalizing reservations, and the shuffling of who was and wasn’t going to stand with them, Tony was pretty sure that he was going to spend a lot of the honeymoon sleeping or just trying to avoid doing anything that even resembled responsibility.

So when Pepper turned up in his lab the day before the wedding, he was understandably a little snappy with her.

“I already dealt with all the paperwork you asked me to do,” he griped, returning his focus to the wiring he was trying to sort out.

The click of her heels paused a few feet away, probably gauging where the ‘safe zone’ was today. “You should call Bruce and let him know that you aren’t coming home tonight.”

Well, that definitely got his attention.

His brow furrowed as he straightened up on his stool, spinning around to face her. “Why would I not be going home tonight? You’re the one always lecturing me about my work-life balance; I thought you’d be thrilled to hear that I even planned on leaving early.”

In spite of the apparent sternness on her face, there was definitely something sparkling in her eyes. Something that made him wary, because that look rarely ended well for whoever was on the receiving end of it.

She cocked her hip against the work table, clearly having decided that risk was minimal at moment. “It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, Mr. Stark. And as the closest thing to a maid of honor either of you have--”

“You’re not even a witness, Pep,” Tony said, pointing the soldering iron in her direction. Not  _ at  _ her, god forbid. She would find a way to take it from him and then he’d have to track down his spare.

Or steal a spare from one of the interns, and that would just get him in hotter water with her.

“Your witness is across the country, and I don’t know how to get ahold of Bruce’s. And I’m  _ your  _ backup, which means right now it’s my job to make sure at least some of the traditions get followed.”

“You do know that neither of us is a bride, right? I feel like we can throw a lot of those traditions out the window.”

The wholly unimpressed look she was giving him made it pretty clear he wasn’t getting out of this too easily, forcing him to try a different angle. “I also feel like, as your boss, you probably shouldn’t be meddling this much in my bedroom habits. Namely the fact that I was planning on fucking him one last time before we’re husbands.”

“Tony, if we had anything resembling a normal employee-boss relationship, you wouldn’t have called me at three in the morning asking me my opinions on mixing blue and red in the decorations.”

That sounded about half familiar. It was something about roses, if he remembered right. “It was an emergency.”

“You were hysterical.”

Tony leveled a glare at her. “Now you’re just exaggerating.”

The twitch of her lips indicated that, while she knew he was right, she would admit it only under pain of death. “Either way. You should call Bruce and tell him you’re staying with me for the night.”

He sighed heavily, knowing full well that acting petulant wouldn’t get her nearly as far with Pepper as it tended to with Bruce. “You are both the worst and best staffing decision I ever made.”

She preened a little bit, heels clicking as she headed back towards the door. Apparently that had been the entire point of her visit. “I’ll come collect you later to make sure you actually  _ do _ leave early for once,” she warned.

Tony nearly groaned, slouching back as much as he could without worrying about falling. Definitely the worst staffing decision he ever made. In spite of the fact that the company would more than likely fall apart without her, and they both knew it.

* * *

“Remind me again why we’re not exempt from this part?” Bruce asked later that night, well after Tony had been shuffled away into Pepper’s spare bedroom.

Apparently she had stopped by his and Bruce’s home earlier in the day, because his suit and everything were hung up neatly in the closet here. Maybe he shouldn’t have given her a spare key.

“She said it was tradition and she was taking it upon herself to make sure we stick to some of it because Rhodey’s not here to make us do it,” he relayed, considering that ten hours later that was  _ still _ the closest thing to an excuse she had given.

Even though Rhodey almost definitely wouldn’t make them do this.

Bruce scoffed, and Tony could faintly hear the rustling of sheets from the other line. “I’d say I can’t believe that she talked you into it, but I’m pretty sure she could talk you into handing over the CEO title and make you think it was your idea.”

“I think I’m offended.”

“But am I wrong?”

Tony huffed, rolling over onto his stomach. Pepper’s blankets weren’t nearly as heavy as his, and he found himself missing the weight. “You know you’re not. But that’s not the point right now. The point is, we’re supposed to be exempt from this kind of thing. That’s half the point in marrying another man: so we don’t have to deal with the wearing white thing or the spending the night before apart thing.”

“I’m so glad that traditional gender roles played an important part in your decision to marry me,” Bruce deadpanned.

It was hard not to laugh, hiding the sound into the pillows and steadfastly ignoring the thumping from the other side of the wall.

“I think that’s your cue to go, dear,” he continued, regret obvious in his voice. “At least try and get some sleep, all right?”

“It’s not even that late,” Tony complained, loudly enough for both to Bruce  _ and _ Pepper to hear him.

“Babe.”

He sighed heavily, dramatically, and he was pretty damn sure it made Bruce smile. “Fine, fine. Give Brad kisses for me and make sure to serenade him before bed.”

“Yeah, all right. I’ll spoil him in your absence,” Bruce promised softly. As if he was  _ actually _ going to do as Tony asked when they both knew that Tony was the actual ‘cool cat parent’ who did all the spoiling.

He doubted Brad cared much either way, but it was nice to think about, especially since they would both be gone for about four weeks and this was the last night he would have with either of his parents between now and then.

* * *

“The ceremony doesn’t even start for five minutes,” Rhodey admonished as he tried to stop Tony from fidgeting.

Tony barely managed to look up and face him, knowing he was being ridiculous. He’d seen Bruce not even ten minutes ago; there was no reason for him to be fretting over this. But still… 

“Can you double check anyways?”

Rhodey leveled him with an unimpressed look, so similar to the one he wore almost constantly when they lived together all those years ago.

Regardless, he relented with a huff, muttering about how there was  _ still _ five minutes, and how he  _ knew _ Tony coming up early would be a mistake.

Realistically, Tony probably  _ shouldn’t  _ be worried. Bruce had proven time and time again that he wasn’t going to just drop him and that he would always come if Tony needed him, but at the same time…

At the same time, this was a big thing. And big things tended to make Bruce skittish. Even switching from an apartment to an actual house had taken a lot of convincing, to the point where Tony had ended up making a damn  _ slideshow _ before Bruce finally relented.

It felt like no time had passed before Rhodey returned, a look of concern etched on his face and Tony’s nerves instantly ratcheted up.

“What’s this I’m hearing about you starting a fire in the dorms?” he asked softly so his voice wouldn’t carry.

Tony’s mouth dropped open, both appalled at the question and at Bruce for mentioning that. On their  _ wedding day _ . “It over a decade ago and wasn’t even my fault,” he hissed, worry entirely forgotten.

He was going to absolutely throttle Bruce, he was sure of it.

Rhodey scoffed, pressing his hand over Tony’s shoulder as if he needed to physically hold him back from doing anything rash. “He just said that if he was going to run, he would have done it after you set the dorm on fire. And then refused to tell me the rest of the story.”

Ok, that was marginally better than Tony was anticipating. He deflated a bit, resisting the urge to lean his forehead against Rhodey’s shoulder. “It was an accident. And Bruce wasn’t even in the room at the time, so he doesn’t get to complain about it.”

A small smile tugged at Rhodey’s mouth, and he wasn’t sure what about that amused him. He figured there would be some sort of horror, or at the very least a lecture forthcoming about the whole thing.

Granted, he didn’t get a chance to ask before a hush fell over the entire room, and Tony straightened up on instinct.

They hadn’t opted for music. It didn’t make much sense to either of them, considering that no one was really ‘walking down the aisle’ in any sort of traditional sense. Which, in retrospect, probably made it feel a little awkward for Bruce when everyone turned their attention to him anyways when he joined Tony in front of the room.

And, really, it was so much harder to be mad at Bruce now that he was in front of him. Maybe that had been part of the plan from the beginning, if Bruce even  _ had _ a plan about this.

“You’re in trouble later,” Tony whispered once they were side by side and both of their witnesses had taken their places.

A small smile touched Bruce’s lips, but he otherwise looked as serious as he ever did in formal situations.

They opted against a priest, deciding that neither of them had actually gone to church with any regularity since they were young children, and they didn’t particularly  _ believe _ anyways. And while Tony tried to make a case that they could get Rhodey ordained, Rhodey himself put his foot down on that plan so they had to find an actual minister.

Everything seemed to be going deceptively smoothly. The opening wasn’t dreadfully long, Tony knew for a fact that he had the ring, they weren’t doing a ‘unity’ anything that needed to be worried about…

Bruce’s fairly traditional vows were said and Tony resolutely  _ didn’t _ break down into tears even though it was a close thing, so he was going to count that as a win.

And the second Tony had actually started to relax, it was brought to his attention that something was missing.

“And yours, Anthony?” the minister asked Tony, a genial smile firmly in place.

Automatically, he tucked his hand into the inside jacket pocket, frowning when he found it empty.

Shit.

_ Shit _ .

He checked his other pockets, pretty sure panic was pretty clear on his face. He didn’t have them memorized. Sure, Tony knew the spirit of what he was going to say, but what if he went on a tangent? What if he fucked it all up?

“Tones,” Bruce said softly, hand resting on his wrist.

His gaze snapped up, and…

If that was amusement in his eyes, Tony might throw something at him. Probably a pillow.

There was a moment of hesitation before Bruce pulled back, pulling notecards out of his own pocket and offered them to Tony.

It clicked a little later than it probably should have. Right. He gave his vows to Bruce to keep track of them. He did that  _ weeks  _ ago because Tony knew he had a habit of misplacing things.

The wetness that had been building up in his eyes spilled over and Tony bowed his head in a failed attempt to hide it. “God, I’m a mess without you…”

“You’re just fine,” Bruce said just as softly, reaching over to wipe away some of the tears.

Really, it just confirmed that at some point Tony  _ had _ become the emotional, high-strung one in the relationship at some point over the years.

Tony tried not to laugh, well aware that he  _ would  _ be lost without Bruce around to keep him on track. But now probably wasn’t the time to voice that, in spite of the fact that it probably would have been good to put in his vows to begin with.

Next time, he supposed. If he could talk Bruce into renewing their vows in twenty years or so.

The crowd around them started murmuring, and now wasn’t really the time to be reminiscing quietly. They had made a point on organizing a short ceremony, and he was definitely holding it up right now.

He cleared his throat, shuffling through the cards to make sure they were actually in order, and he started.

“I promise to stand with you, even though you don’t really need me to. To love and support you, even when you’re just a procrastinating nerd who managed to drag out our engagement for  _ eight years _ .” He shot a pointed look at Bruce, who seemed to be holding back a smile but couldn’t quite stop himself from rolling his eyes.

“You’ve always been there from me, ever since the beginning. Even when I fu-- When I messed up,” he corrected, feeling a hell of a lot more flustered than he reasonably should. “And in spite of the fact that I’ve said this in jest a thousand times, I’m happy that you’re letting yourself be stuck with me. That you continue to let me be by your side, and if all goes well, that’s how we’re always going to be.”

It wasn’t much, really. Tony wanted to say a whole lot more, but he was pretty sure that if he went on a long tirade he would just be opening himself up to teasing months down the line.

Besides, he could just go on said tirade later. Somewhere more private so that Bruce could be the only one to rib him about it.

Tony would admit to being mildly comforted by the dampness in Bruce’s eyes as well, because he didn’t want to be the only one who cried at his wedding.

* * *

The reception was a lot smaller than the wedding itself, and Tony suspected that it was partially because he’d made a point to invite very few people from SI, and most of the interns he  _ had _ invited probably thought it would be weird to stay this long.

Parker seemed fine with it, though. Which was always nice, since Parker was the ‘favorite intern’ anyways and wouldn’t be sticking around for the brownie points it might theoretically earn him. He knew damn well that he had enough of those.

His guinea pig hadn’t really stuck around either, but he’d made a point to stay long enough for the usual ‘congratulations’ and introduced his spitfire of a boyfriend.

In Tony’s opinion no man should be as much trouble as the short blond who seemed content to tow James around with what looked like minimal effort. However, Tony was  _ really _ pleased to find out that James’ boyfriend called him ‘Bucky’. Which was a fucking adorable nickname for a six foot tall man with a metal arm.

“Doing all right, babe?” Tony asked, nudging Bruce’s knee under the table.

The almost sappy look Bruce aimed him was all the answer he needed. Except it was interrupted by Jen sliding a ten dollar bill across the table.

And judging by the smug curl of her lips, she damn well knew what she was doing and Tony was tempted to flip her off. They were officially family now; it was fine.

“Gotta say, I’m impressed. I was pretty sure you were going to cry,” she said, hand tucked into the pocket of her skirt.

“You gave me so much incentive not to,” Bruce snarked back, folding up the bill and tucking it away. “Really, you should have known better.”

Jen scoffed, shifting her weight back. “Me and mom are going to head out. Congratulations again on  _ finally _ making it official; I was pretty sure I was actually going to go grey before you two finally tied the knot.” She paused a moment before leaning over the table to kiss both of their cheeks.

Tony glanced between the two of them, making sure he wrapped an arm around her shoulders before she pulled back to leave. 

“So, did you get the sass from her, or did she get it from you? Or is that just a ‘Banner family trait’?”

Bruce rolled his eyes, tugging Tony to lean against his side. Even if it was really impractical considering that they were in separate chairs. “You know that she’s not a Banner, right? It would come from my mom’s side of the family if Jen and I both have it.”

“Details.” He had to crane his neck a bit to kiss Bruce’s jaw before straightening himself up. “We’ve got to go soon, by the way. Flight to catch and all that fun stuff.”

In spite of the put-out look Bruce aimed at him, there was an underlying fondness in the curl of his lips. “Are you still trying to make sure I have no idea where we’re going? Because I’m pretty sure I’ll find out at the airport.”

“Private jet, honey.” Tony winked, tugging Bruce upright. “Come on. You complain about my lack of punctuality constantly, so we have to actually  _ attempt  _ to be there on time.”

Bruce moved easily in spite of the tone in his voice. “We can’t leave in the middle of our own reception.” After a moment’s pause, he amended that to, “We can’t just vanish without saying a word to everyone.”

Tony tutted, nudging an elbow against Bruce’s ribs. “We can technically do anything we want. And you knew that we would be leaving early while we were still planning this, and made sure we put in the invitation what time we were heading out. But if you want to be the one making the announcement that we’re leaving…”

Apparently that was the right thing to say, considering that Bruce didn’t even bother with a token retort. He  _ did _ pull a grimace, and made sure to apologize to the people they ran into on their way out, but Tony figured that was about what he could have expected.

His driver was already waiting for them outside, and Tony couldn’t help but sigh in relief to see Happy there. Even if Happy looked mildly annoyed, but Tony was almost positive that was just his face.

Only when they were tucked away did he notice the distant look in his husband’s eyes. Usually a sign he’d been hyper-focused on something for too long.

“Hey,” Tony prompted softly after he curled up against Bruce’s side.

As if the contact was all he needed, tension seemed to leak out of Bruce just from something that simple. “I’m fine,” Bruce promised just as lowly. He wound an arm around Tony’s shoulder and scritched his nails just behind Tony’s ear. “Just a little overwhelmed by it all.”

It was hard not to laugh, leaning up to kiss the underside of Bruce’s jaw. “You say that now, but just wait until we come back and have to deal with the paperwork, since you decided to become Dr. Banner-Stark.”

“Don’t remind me.”

Tony hid his face in the shoulder of Bruce’s jacket in an attempt to mask his amusement. He got the sense it didn’t actually work, but that wasn’t the point.

It was comfortable. With Bruce’s nerves fading away again, and the familiar hum of the engine, Tony felt himself relaxing as well, belatedly realizing how uptight he had been and how hard he had been trying and hoping that everything would go well.

And now the only thing he had to worry about was the flight, and then they could just settle in and enjoy whatever they wanted for the next four weeks.

“I love you. Kind of a ridiculous amount.”

He could feel Bruce’s huff of laughter and the kiss that he planted on top of his head. “I love you too. In case you hadn’t noticed yet.”

Fine, ok, the warm burn in his chest maybe wasn’t as hot as it had been the first couple of times Bruce had said it. But then again, that had been so many years ago, and Tony liked to think that it was more comfortable now than it had been back then. They had found a way to make it fit inside themselves better, and if it didn’t feel quite as terrifyingly intense… Tony was pretty sure he was all right with that. “Think you should tell me again, just in case.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Bruce complained, tugging lightly at Tony’s hair. Still, he didn’t hesitate long before repeating, “I love you.”

Really, that was proof enough that Tony had picked an absolute sap of a man, and didn’t stop himself from curling up against him and settling in silence for the rest of the drive.

Tony got damn lucky and wasn’t entirely sure what he did to deserve this, but he wasn’t about to take it for granted.


End file.
